Almighty God, we give you thanks for the ministry of Arthur Michael Ramsey, who labored that the Church of Jesus Christ might be one: Grant that we, instructed by his teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit ever one God, Amen (moved from Friday).

27 June 1961. Michael Ramsey was enthroned as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. His first name (which he didn't use) was Arthur, pic.twitter.com/6QEmgHhdPf

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) June 27, 2017

O gracious Father, who gave Saint Donnan the grace to serve as a faithful witness and capable leader even unto death, grant us the strength to follow his example of persevering witness, through Christ our Lord. who with you and the Holy Spirit ever liveth and reigneth in glory everlasting, Amen.

Apr 17: Feast of Donnán and companions (†617), slain on the Isle of Eigg. The ravaging of Toraighe (Tory Island) and burning of Condairi (Connor, County Antrim) in the same year suggest a sea-borne conflagration afflicting the Hebrides and north coast of Ireland. 📸LJ Cunningham pic.twitter.com/DtjGiY0yoa

— North Ages (@NorthAges) April 17, 2026

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank thee for thy servant George Augustus Selwyn, whom thou didst call to preach the Gospel to the peoples of New Zealand and Melanesia, and to lay a firm foundation for the growth of thy Church in many nations. Raise up, we beseech thee, in this and every land evangelists and heralds of thy kingdom, that thy Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Died #OTD in 1878: George Augustus Selwyn, 1st Bishop of New Zealand https://t.co/DX3L3ZYTeg

Selwyn was the 1st Bishop of New Zealand (1841-68) before being appointed Bishop of Lichfield on his return to England. Selwyn College Cambridge, est. in his memory, opened in Oct 1882. pic.twitter.com/VkpyA574LM

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 11, 2023

If I had a Son in Court, or married a daughter into a plentifull Fortune, I were satisfied for that son or that daughter. Shall I not be so, when the King of Heaven hath taken that sone to himselfe, and married himselfe to that daughter, for ever? I spend none of my Faith, I exercise none of my Hope, in this, that I shall have my dead raised to life againe. This is the faith that sustains me, when I lose by the death of others, and we, are now all in one Church, and at the resurrection, shall be all in one Quire.

–John Donne (1572-1631) [my emphasis]

Happy easter everyone…

Caravaggio pic.twitter.com/zvEWthyHY5

— Ahmet Duran Hergün (@AhmetDuranHergn) April 5, 2026

Almighty Father,
look with mercy on this your family
for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed
and given up into the hands of sinners
and to suffer death upon the cross;
who is alive and glorified with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Good Friday

This is one of the greatest days from the beginning of the world to its end. He was scourged, crowned with thorns, carried the cross to Calvary amid taunts, was nailed to the cross between two thieves, and by His painful death finished the great work of redemption. pic.twitter.com/G1fvTD3BJ0

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) April 3, 2026

In a statement suggesting the enormity of Canterbury’s failure to be a focus for unity, the former archbishop Rowan Williams recently admitted: “I honestly don’t know whether the communion will survive.” Such a statement from a former leader of the Church of England reflects the gravity of the current crisis. It is not merely a matter of internal disagreement but a question about the very future of Anglicanism.

A significant turning point came in 2023 when the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) issued what became known as the Ash Wednesday Statement. In this declaration, the GSFA announced that it would no longer recognize the archbishop of Canterbury as primus inter pares and the head of the Anglican Communion. This decision marked a historic shift: The symbolic center of Anglican unity was effectively withdrawn by churches representing the majority of Anglicans worldwide.

The roots of this shift are not only historical but also theological and structural. The traditional configuration of the Anglican Communion emerged during the era of the British Empire. During that time, the Church of England functioned naturally as a coordinating center for Anglican churches established through missionary and colonial expansion. However, the global context has changed dramatically. The demographic center of Anglicanism has moved decisively to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Today, the vast majority of Anglicans live in what is commonly called the Global South.

The departure of several western provinces from the traditional Anglican faith inevitably raises questions about unity, governance, and authority.

Read it all.

Canterbury and the Collapse of Anglican Unity
by Mouneer Anis @bishopmouneer https://t.co/5oNTQIwrz3 pic.twitter.com/LVjAFzbJjP

— First Things (@firstthingsmag) March 31, 2026

Almighty God, the root and fountain of all being: Open our eyes to see, with thy servant John Donne, that whatsoever hath any being is a mirror in which we may behold thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

“Then, as my soul to heaven, her first seat, takes flight,
And earth-born body in the earth shall dwell,
So fall my sins, that all may have their right,
To where they’are bred, and would press me, to hell…”
John Donne, died 31 March 1631#johndonne #poem pic.twitter.com/quP2lXIVW3

— Peter Parker (@PParkerWriting) March 31, 2026

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know thy presence and obey thy will; that, following the example of thy servant John Keble, we may accomplish with integrity and courage that which thou givest us to do, and endure that which thou givest us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Did you know that John Keble was only the second person to ever obtain a double first (in 1810 in Latin and Mathematics) from the University of Oxford? (The first was Robert Peel who later went on to become Prime Minister) #Keble150 #KebleArchives pic.twitter.com/oJvz2cav3W

— Keble College, Oxford (@KebleOxford) April 25, 2020

Six months after the announcement in Canterbury Cathedral that the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, had been nominated as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury (News, 10 October 2025), the new Primate returned to the city to be installed in her new cathedral.

Although her election was confirmed in January (News, 30 January), the enthronement on Wednesday marks the symbolic start of her public ministry. She makes history as the first woman to hold the position in 1400 years.

The Archbishop had arrived on foot in Canterbury as a pilgrim on Sunday, six days after setting out from St Paul’s Cathedral with her husband, Eamonn, and a small party of supporters. On Sunday, about 100 people joined her on the outskirts of the city for the last part of the journey to her cathedral, where she was greeted by the Mayor, the Dean, and the Bishop of Dover. Dressed informally in walking clothes and boots, she pronounced herself “relieved” to have completed the 87-mile journey, telling the BBC: “It’s been a real joy. It’s also a joy to know that we’re done.”

The service on Wednesday — attended by more than 2000 people — was an altogether more formal occasion, full of pomp and pageantry

Read it all.

Dame Sarah Mullally is to be installed as the first ever female leader of the Church of England at Canterbury Cathedral.

More here: https://t.co/Lys2LnMGBY pic.twitter.com/LhEOtve4KJ

— BBC Kent (@BBCRadioKent) March 25, 2026

Radical  reform of the National Church Institutions (NCIs), including the abolition of the Archbishops’ Council, has been halted after the parliamentary Ecclesiastical Committee deemed the legislation “not expedient”.

Writing to General Synod members last week, the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council, William Nye, relayed that the Legislative Committee of the Synod (the body responsible for submitting Measures to Parliament for approval) had decided not to seek to reintroduce the National Church Governance Measure at the July group of sessions in York.

“In light of the Ecclesiastical Committee’s expressed position, and the absence of clarity that amendments would resolve its concerns, the Committee concluded that reintroduction at this time would not be a simple or straightforward matter,” he wrote.

Read it all.

Radical reform of the National Church Institutions, including the abolition of the Archbishops’ Council, has been halted after the parliamentary Ecclesiastical Committee deemed the legislation “not expedient”. #DannyKruger #Parliament https://t.co/CVRGqeqzEU

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 20, 2026

It is, Rowan Williams assures me, a coincidence that his new book will be published three days after the installation of Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury. “I will not be attending,” he says. “You don’t want to be Marley’s ghost.”

Yet, fittingly – since that book takes solidarity as its theme – this priest, poet and critic is keen to empathise with Mullally, the first female Archbishop, in the weight of challenges she faces. “Every archbishop starts, like every president or prime minister: with expectations being thrown at them,” he recalls of his time at Lambeth Palace from 2002 to 2012. “Realising you’re not going to be able to meet them is part of the job. It is no walk in the park.”

Williams, who now lives in Cardiff with his theologian wife Jane, comes across as gentler, kinder and more self-deprecating than I remember him from his episcopal tenure. He used to make regular headlines, his every utterance and act picked apart. His 2011 dismissal of David Cameron’s “Big Society” initiative as “painfully stale” had the Conservative benches in uproar. Today, as we sit talking in a book-lined reception room at his publisher’s London office, he stands out from the colourful backdrop in his black clerical shirt and trousers, with a simple cross hanging round his neck. Those monkish eyebrows remain as untamed as ever.

The two biggest issues in Mullally’s in-tray, Williams tells me, are the same ones he tried but failed to settle during his turbulent decade in post: women’s ordination and what he refers to as “the same-sex question”. With the first, he feels, at least in England, “some of the bitterness has gone out of it”. Not, though, in much of the 85-million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion, over which the Archbishop of Canterbury also presides, with some provinces muttering about schism. “I honestly don’t know whether the Communion will survive,” he says bluntly.

Read it all.

"Is he saying that British public life has lost its moral centre? “Yes,” he replies, boldly and without any caveat. “Increasingly, we permit and collude with dishonourable forms of behaviour, and we don’t seem very concerned about that.”" Rowan Williams: ‘I don’t know whether the…

— Mark Lambert (@sitsio) March 17, 2026

When the former Archbishop of Canterbury the Rt Revd Justin Welby spoke recently about his mental health (Quotes, 6 March), his honesty was striking.

Speaking to Gyles Brandreth on the podcast Rosebud, he reflected on the failures surrounding the Church of England’s handling of abuse allegations, and revealed that he had sought professional help. “I’ve been seeing a psychotherapist for a considerable period of time, and a psychiatrist: very helpful,” he said. He went on to say that therapy was not about excusing mistakes, but about confronting them honestly: “It’s not about saying, ‘Oh, it didn’t matter,’ . . . quite the reverse. How does one live with such a failure?”

That candour should have been welcomed. Instead, it prompted a deeply damaging column in The Daily Telegraph by Celia Walden, who asked: “What’s the point of God if even Justin Welby is seeing a therapist?”

Reading her article left me shocked, distressed, and very upset at such ignorance about mental health. I felt shamed and triggered. As a serving clergyman who has lived with serious mental-health challenges, I felt guilty and embarrassed simply for seeking help. Her column was extremely damaging, heartless, and cruel, and lacked any compassion for clergy and people of faith who live with mental illness. It implied that faith alone should replace therapy: a view that is both wrong and pastorally reckless.

Read it all.

"I have never told someone with cancer to refuse chemotherapy and to 'just pray'. I have never suggested that insulin betrays belief. So, why is mental health treated differently?" ✍️ Mark Edwards #mentalhealth #JustinWelby https://t.co/FTUYk6BqKd

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 13, 2026

The future shape of the Global Anglican Communion is being debated this week in Abuja, Nigeria. At the GAFCON conference, more than 400 bishops and global leaders are working through the logic of the proposal that could lead to a new Global Anglican Communion — a fellowship grounded in the authority of Scripture and historic Anglican doctrine.

On Day 2 of the conference, Dominic Steele speaks with key leaders including Vaughan Roberts (Oxford), Julian Dobbs (ACNA), and Richard Condie (Tasmania), along with presenters from Uganda, Brazil and Nigeria.

They discuss: • The implications of the Church of England’s current trajectory • The logic behind a reordered global communion

• The mission opportunity for global Anglicans • What this could mean for churches in the UK, North America and Australia

Watch and listen to it all.

As bishops and church leaders gather in Abuja, Nigeria for the 2026 Gafcon Council, another conversation about the future of the Anglican Communion is unfolding at the same time. The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) announced that it will consider revised versions of the Nairobi–Cairo proposals later this year, structural reforms intended to rethink how the Communion is organized and how authority is exercised across its global fellowship of provinces.

The timing is striking. While Gafcon leaders meet to reaffirm their vision for Anglican unity and identity, the Communion’s official institutions are considering their own attempt to address the fractures that have defined Anglican life for nearly two decades. Whether these efforts represent parallel responses to the same crisis, or competing visions of Anglicanism’s future, remains an open question, but we suspect a purposeful step to undermine Gafcon’s G26 conference. We’ve seen this before in the Church of England, and that battle is moving onto the world stage.

At the first press briefing of the gathering in Abuja, the Rev. Canon Justin Murff, Communications Director for Gafcon, addressed a question that followed the movement since its founding in 2008: whether it represents a break from the Anglican Communion. “The goal is not to break apart the Communion,” Murff said. “This is a claim to continuum.” Murff emphasized that the movement continues to define itself through the Jerusalem Declaration, the theological statement adopted at the first Gafcon gathering in Jerusalem. Far from being merely a protest against developments in the Western churches, he said, the declaration was intended to articulate what unites Anglicans who believe the Communion must remain rooted in the authority of Scripture. “We will be reaffirming and upholding the Jerusalem Declaration,” Murff said. “It is not designed to show what we oppose but what unites Gafcon.”

For many within the movement, the declaration has increasingly functioned as a theological centre of gravity for Anglicans who believe the Communion has struggled to address doctrinal divisions that have widened in recent decades. “It has become a basis of communion across boundaries,” Murff said, noting that it provides theological grounding for cooperation, and, at times, cross-provincial oversight, among churches that share the same doctrinal commitments. Murff insisted that Gafcon does not see itself as creating a new church. Instead, he suggested that many within the movement believe they are preserving the historic faith of Anglicanism even as the Communion’s institutional structures struggle to respond to theological conflict. “We are the Anglican Communion,” he said, describing the movement as committed to “defending the faith as the Word of God has taught and commanded.”

Read it all.

While we wait for Gafcon to announce a new leader of the Global Anglican Communion, we take a look at the alternatives. https://t.co/T8P6kpxpLQ

— Anglican Futures (@AnglicanFutures) March 5, 2026

Professor Helen King has put forward a private members motion for debate at the Church of England’s General Synod that runs as follows:

‘That this Synod affirm that there are no fundamental objections to being in a committed, faithful, intimate same-sex relationship, and that such a relationship can be entirely compatible with Christian discipleship.’[1]

The Church of England website states that this motion had 161 signatures on 18 February, which is the second largest number of signatures of the four motions listed, and if the number of signatures continues to increase there is the possibility that it could be selected for debate at the General Synod in July.

The language of King’s motion deliberately echoes the language of the motion passed by General Synod in 1975 ‘That this Synod considers that there are no fundamental objections to the ordination of women to the priesthood.’ This motion paved the way to General Synod passing legislation allowing women to be ordained as deacons in 1986, as priests in 1992 and as bishops in 2014. The purpose of King’s motion is an attempt to pave the way in similar fashion for those in same-sex relationships to be allowed to be ordained in the Church of England.

The motion would not in itself make such ordination lawful, but it would provide the basis on which a measure to allow those in same-sex relationships to be ordained could then be brought forward for debate. The argument would go that because General Synod had voted for King’s motion it had established the principle that ‘such a relationship can be entirely compatible with Christian discipleship’ and this would in turn mean that it was entirely compatible with the exercise of ordained ministry.

This being the nature of King’s motion, the question that arises is whether it would be right for members of Synod to vote for it should it be put forward for debate in July. In the remainer of this post I shall set out the two reasons why I think members of Synod should not vote for it.

Read it all.

I have just published a new blog post 'Why faithful Christians should reject Helen King's private member's motion.'https://t.co/bXjhSyRYsT

— Martin Davie (@MartinBDavie) March 2, 2026

A sermon is not “an op-ed for a newspaper”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams has said. “You are not just there to comment on current affairs, and I am always rather wary when I hear a sermon which is dominated by what’s in the media to the extent that you are not quite sure whether anything more than a general moral perspective is coming out of it.”

He offered the comments in a new podcast, Preaching Well, launched by the Bishop of Loughborough, the Rt Revd Saju Muthalaly, who said that he had created it because “the Church urgently needs voices who can speak God’s truth with clarity, mercy, and conviction.” He hoped that it would “build confidence in preachers and encourage those who long to proclaim the gospel in ways that stir hope, deepen faith, and lead us towards Jesus Christ”.

Lord Williams is the first guest in the new series. Sermons should help the congregation to “look more clearly at the nature of the God that has addressed us”, he said. “Then bits of the contemporary jigsaw begin to fall into place a bit more. . . If that’s the kind of God we believe in, then there are some reactions and engagements with the world around us that will make sense and some that won’t.”

A sermon “prompts people, encourages people, to a certain level of self-awareness”, he said, “so that somebody might go out from listening to sermon and be able to say not just ‘I have never thought of that,’ but ‘I have never seen that in myself.’”

Read it all.

A sermon is not “an op-ed for a newspaper”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams has said. He offered the comments in a new podcast, Preaching Well, launched by the Bishop of Loughborough, the Rt Revd Saju Muthalaly 🎧#Sermon #RowanWilliams https://t.co/8RKZylcfyb

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 26, 2026

A parish in Norfolk is marking the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia with a special service and a series of charitable initiatives to show its support for the Ukrainian people.

“This has been a cause really bringing people together — not just churchgoers but people across the community,” said David Styles, communications officer for the Norwich diocese.

“While some people have become desensitised after four years of war, local Ukrainians have been heartened by many messages showing they’re not forgotten.”

Mr Styles told the Church Times that St Peter’s, Sheringham, had marked the anniversary with a memorial service. It had also organised collections of clothing, medical supplies, children’s toys and fire-fighting equipment.

Read it all.

A parish in #Norfolk is marking the fourth anniversary of the invasion of #Ukraine by #Russia with a special service and a series of charitable initiatives to show its support for the Ukrainian people#churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/QznWG2TN11

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 24, 2026

The episcopal synod of the Church of the Province of Central Africa has ratified the provincial synod’s vote last year in Malawi to divide the province into three national churches. 

The primate, the Most Rev. Albert Chama on 20 Feb 2026 said all of the bishops from the province’s 15 dioceses met at the Bishops Mount Centre in Harare and agreed to form national churches for Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. The diocese of Botswana would enter the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, he said.

“Now, this is happening not out of selfishness,” Archbishop Chama said, noting, “we’ve been together since 1955, when our province was inaugurated.”

“We’ve had a lot of good things that we’ve done together. Fellowship, going across nations and across borders, just to fellowship and strengthen the Church and strengthen one another. That has been very, very good.”

Read it all.

Today, in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we pray for The Church of the Province of Central Africa and the Most Revd Albert Chama, the Archbishop of Central Africa and Bishop of Lusaka.

Let us pray for:

🙏 Mission and evangelism — for renewed witness, faithful discipleship and… pic.twitter.com/X3mqtVMm95

— Anglican Communion (@AnglicanWorld) January 4, 2026

Now in similar manner, the Church of England Canon law on Marriage is cast as ‘unjust’ by an appeal to subjective feelings and desires. This is the basic thrust of Thompson’s argument which calls for acceptance of same-sex civil marriage.

Anglican divine Richard Hooker stated unequivocally that human authority in the sphere of law was totally subject to the moral law of scripture.  “Laws human are of force so far forth as they are agreeable to the law of God.”[x]Biblical law must always inform issues of justice, and the 39 Articles of Religion asserts this principle, “… it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.”[xi]

Christ definitely does not embody a law based on democratic human decisions which is in total opposition to God’s holy law. The people’s voice cannot take the place of God’s voice. After all, the people’s voice all too quickly turns into a baying for blood – as in, “Crucify him”^[xii].

Christ as the second Adam[xiii] points us back to the Creator’s original intention for human beings, as described in Genesis. His purpose for human sexuality – to bond a man and a woman in lifelong marriage so that children may be brought up in the knowledge and fear of the Lord[xiv]. Certainly, without knowing the purpose of humanity, we cannot know what justice is.

Read it all.

Is the penny dropping? Is clergy same-sex marriage a step too far for the CofE?https://t.co/81lNU3o0A5

— Anglican Futures (@AnglicanFutures) January 24, 2025

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Sarah Mullally said,

“I do believe it proposes a sensible way forward that provides us with a structured framework that I believe will take us to the next steps.”

Like them, the vast majority of bishops are committed to change. They too want to move “forward” and “take the next steps”. The ‘letter to the Church’, that accompanies the motion that General Synod passed, made that very clear – as this blog wrote when it was published:

1) The House of Bishops are, above all else, committed to “walking together”.

2) The House of Bishops continue to commend the use of the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF).

3) The House of Bishops only apologise for the pain caused by them by not moving further, faster.

4) The only discipline proposed by the House of Bishops for those who infringe their guidance is ‘informal’ and possibly ‘optional’.

5) The only criticism is for those who have taken a stand against the use of the Prayers of Love and Faith

6) As the LLF process draws to a close, another process begins.

The Revd Will Pearson Gee used an analogy about a train that had stopped because the tracks ahead were dangerous – “Then,” he said,” it became apparent that the train was going to be repainted, and a new logo painted on the side. The hurt and angry passengers were told the old train had in fact become a new one and would be proceeding with little delay.”

The Church of England has not abandonded proposals for same-sex blessings – they are already commended in churches and cathedrals up and down the land. All they have done is splashed some paint around and changed the logo, in order to try to find a way of moving forward with as little delay as possible.

Read it all.

Contrary to the view of @BBCNews there seems to be little evidence that @synod has "abandoned proposals for same-sex blessing ceremonies". https://t.co/YzIrx6MSV5

— Anglican Futures (@AnglicanFutures) February 13, 2026

A new approach to outsourcing church safeguarding to an independent body was endorsed overwhelmingly by the General Synod on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite some speeches that called for a greater sense of urgency, or urged the Synod to revisit the idea rejected last year of also moving diocesan safeguarding teams to a new external organisation, members overall welcomed the latest thinking on independent safeguarding.

Dame Christine Ryan, the independent chair of the Safeguarding Structures Programme Board, which is piloting this work, said that, after months of conversations and consultation, it had become clear to her that the Church of England was “ready to change” and had a “deep commitment” to doing “what was right”. Nevertheless, actual change was happening far too slowly, she concluded.

Regulators, Parliament, and the public would no longer tolerate incremental improvements, she warned. She had, therefore, drawn up a new model for independent safeguarding which would simplify matters, restore trust, and end the “invidious” situation in which the Church acted as both “pastor and judge” in safeguarding cases.

Read it all.

A new approach to outsourcing #churchsafeguarding to an independent body was endorsed overwhelmingly by the General #Synod on Wednesday afternoon#churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/hdXsDti9jm

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 11, 2026

A third of Church of England clergy could be suffering from depression, according to a Church report.

Some 16 per cent of 500 clergy polled “show indications of probable clinical depression”, with a further 13 per cent showing “indications of possible or mild depression”, the Living Ministry report on clergy well-being from 2017 to last year found.

This could mean that around 6,000 out of the 20,000 total clergy within the Church are suffering depression.

The Covid pandemic, the cost of living crisis, wars, climate change and “social movements calling for gender and racial justice” are among the factors affecting clergy, according to the internal report.

Problems within the Church, such as dwindling congregations, safeguarding failures and the resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury in 2024, also added to their stress.

Read it all.

We reported on these findings in 2024. Not to suggest the issues have been resolved but the Church has since announced a package including a rise in the stipend and funding for Clergy Support Trust & St Luke’s Healthcare.https://t.co/qbn7kO8kjv

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) February 10, 2026

Romsey Abbey has been named a Demonstrator Church as part of the Church of England’s ambition to become net zero by 2030.

The abbey is currently working with two heritage consultancy firms to explore sustainable upgrades to its lighting and heating systems, with partial funding from the Church of England.

Jan Bartlett, lead churchwarden for the zero carbon initiative at Romsey Abbey, said: “The CofE’s Demonstrator Churches project aims to support high carbon emitting churches with zero carbon projects.

“Romsey Abbey is fortunate to have been selected for Demonstrator Church status and this year we will be receiving financial support towards the technical advice we need to take forward our heating and lighting projects.”

Read it all.

Abbey working towards a greener future is recognised by Church of England https://t.co/TMdfMT3U0v

— Hampshire Chronicle (@hantschronicle) February 9, 2026

The Church of England General Synod opens in London today, with an agenda including the first address by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally.

There will be a discussion on ending the Living in Love and Faith project, a church wide discussion on same sex relations and blessings, which reached an impasse over deep divisions.

Decisions remain to be taken on stand-alone services for same sex couples and whether same sex clergy may be married in civil ceremonies.

Other issues on the agenda are safeguarding, working class clergy, poverty and banning ‘oasis’ floral foam.

The Telegraph has published a chart showing a decline in the number of people on the electoral roll of churches in each of the dioceses, a long term trend.

February's General Synod opens today.

Here's what's coming up on the first day of the Church of England’s Synod.

📺 You can also tune in live to all the events this week at https://t.co/1Sfh2FBPZS.#GeneralSynod pic.twitter.com/DSZCfQDWDI

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) February 9, 2026

In pursuit of the Church of England’s priority to grow younger and more diverse, the Strategic Mission and Ministry Board has agreed £0.6m investment with the charity Growing Hope. 

One in six children in England have additional needs, and 88 per cent of parents of children with additional needs say that attending church is currently or has previously been a challenge. Some people with additional needs have commented that elements of church can be distressing for them, such as lighting, signage and sound. 

Founded in 2018 in King’s Cross, London, and initially focussed on setting up free therapy clinics attached to churches for children with additional needs, Growing Hope will now launch a programme to extend its accessibility training to 375 further churches across England. 

In addition, 475 churches will explore the Growing Hope Accessibility Award, which helps churches indicate that they are ready to welcome families with a range of needs. 

Read it all.

A charity that provides free therapy for children and young people with additional needs has been awarded £600,000 by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Boardhttps://t.co/STuQ95ecJO

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 5, 2026

The TikTok video that generated hundreds of requests for free Bibles was not, the Revd David Sims admits, his most dignified.

“I was dancing in my office, waving the Bible, and saying ‘If you want one, I’ll send you one for free,’” he recalled this week. “Within around three or four days, it had had over 100,000 views, and I’d had hundreds of messages saying ‘I’d love a free Bible.’”

Mr Sims, Vicar of St Thomas’s, Aldridge, in Walsall, has been broadcasting on TikTok for more than six years, and holds a regular Sunday service on the site. But, while at one time he sent out two or three Bibles a week, the dancing video last spring has brought the total to more than 2800. He now has a team of ten to 20 volunteers who spend Monday mornings packaging up Bibles to send out.

The requests mainly came from people, typically aged 20 to 40, who did not go to church, he said.

Read it all.

The #TikTok video that generated hundreds of requests for free #Bibles was not, the Revd David Sims admits, his most dignified

Read the full story 👇#freebibles #Evangelism #churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/fow0hfxJhT

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 4, 2026

Working-class candidates continue to experience a “cultural loss” of identity when exploring a vocation to the priesthood, as well as both academic and financial barriers to training, a paper due to be debated by the General Synod next month says.

It was written by the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Revd Lynne Cullens, who chaired a “task and finish” advisory group, commissioned by the Ministry Development Board (MDB), and the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Mark Tanner.

Last February, the Synod voted unanimously for the development of a national strategy for encouraging, developing, and supporting vocations of people from working-class backgrounds, both lay and ordained; and for the MDB to bring that back for debate within 12 months (News, 28 February 2025).

The private member’s motion last year was brought by the Vicar of St Matthew the Apostle, Burnley, the Revd Alex Frost, out of a concern that “some people from a working-class background with a calling to ministry have found it difficult to progress because of expectations and assumptions based on their social class.”

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Working-class candidates continue to experience a “cultural loss” of identity when exploring a vocation to the priesthood, as well as both academic and financial barriers to training, a paper due to be debated by the #GeneralSynod next month says#classhttps://t.co/Shi7fSggR3

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 27, 2026

Other business includes proposals to outsource Church of England safeguarding to a new independent body, which were approved in principle last February (News, 14 February 2025); but implementing that decision has not been straightforward.

The plan originally approved last year called for the National Safeguarding Team (NST) to be transferred to a new independent charity, and a second outside organisation to be set up to scrutinise all church safeguarding. Diocesan and cathedral safeguarding teams would remain employed by their respective dioceses and cathedrals.

Since, then, however, the working group has concluded that this would require years of ponderous legislative processes. Survivors and others wish to move faster, and so a new model has been drawn up, a Synod paper explains.

One new independent body would be created — provisionally titled the Church of England Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). It would be overseen by a board, which would have a majority of non-church members.

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A new model for quasi-independent #safeguarding is on the General Synod’s agenda next month, as are urban #poverty and the parliamentary ping-pong about the Clergy Conduct Measure#Synod #synodagenda #clergyconduct #churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/YROYOjEi5M

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 26, 2026

Meanwhile, just when we needed to consolidate our remaining strengths, to re-energise parish ministry, and to reinvigorate the ordained ministry with funding, affirmation, and a theological rationale, the opposite course of action has been pursued: centralised control of policy and resources, disparagement of the parochial form of Anglican life, and devaluing of the ordained vocation.

Much has already been demolished, especially at the local level; much more has been weakened and made more difficult. It is hard going, these days, in parishes for clergy, together with churchwardens and other hard-working lay people. There are social and cultural reasons for the uphill nature of the task in the present era, but lack of support — in able clergy, in financial resources, in moral affirmation, in practical wisdom — is another. The Church of England on the ground is an ailing and failing Church. How has all this come about?

A minority of activists (lay and ordained General Synod members, some bishops and an Archbishop, and the Archbishops’ Council collectively) have contrived and conspired, over a period of years, to change the nature of the Church, to replace it with a different and alien ecclesial model. That replacement model is essentially managerial rather than relational, bureaucratic instead of organic, centralised in place of localised — all varnished over with the vacuous rhetoric of “leadership” (seldom has such a necessary concept been so misappropriated and abused). And all accompanied by complacent theological illiteracy and ignorance.

Centralisation of resources and of decision-making, whether at the national or diocesan level, subverts the institution as a whole. It sucks the life and energy out of the very places in which life and energy are primarily generated: the parish and (potentially) the diocese.

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"We are now living in an upside-down, topsy-turvy, Church. Turning things the right way up again needs us to begin with the ethical imperative. What needs to affirmed, above all, is the priority of the ethical for thinking and acting" #ChurchofEngland https://t.co/oYoYqMdtQC

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 6, 2026